Subscribe To

Gadget

Saturday, February 11, 2017

From
visionary director, Gore Verbinski, “A Cure for Wellness” is a
chilling and mind-bending psychological thriller. Embarking on
the movie, Verbinski wanted to make a thriller with the depth,
insight and power of classics in the genre that he admired, such as
“The Shining” (Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film), “Don’t Look
Now” (Nicolas Roeg’s 1973 film) and “Rosemary’s Baby”
(Roman Polanski’s 1968 film). The idea of a quick fix cure,
together with society’s malaise and the obsession with perfect
health were topics that fascinated Verbinski, whose films include the
hugely successful “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise and the
Academy Award® winning animated film, “Rango”.

Dane
DeHaan stars as Lockhart in “A Cure for Wellness”, a driven Wall
Street stockbroker who is sent by his firm to a remote alpine medical
spa. Lockhart is on a mission to retrieve the company’s CEO,
Pembroke (Harry Groener), a patient at the spa, who has told his
staff that he has no intention of returning to New York.
Lockhart arrives at the tranquil sanitarium where the residents are
supposedly receiving a miracle cure. In fact though, they seem to be
getting sicker. As he investigates the dark and baffling secrets
behind the spa, he meets a young woman, the hauntingly beautiful
Hannah (Mia Goth), a patient herself. He also gets to know another
patient, the eccentric Mrs. Watkins, played by Celia Imrie, who has
done some detective work of her own. Soon, Lockhart is diagnosed with
the same condition as the other patients by the institution’s
director, the ominous Dr. Volmer (Jason Isaacs), and finds that he is
trapped in the alpine retreat. Lockhart begins to lose his grip on
reality and has to endure unimaginable ordeals during the course of
his own ‘treatment’.

“We
started exploring the notion of a health spa in the Alps, a wellness
center that doesn’t actually make you well,” says Verbinski, “and
it slowly evolved from there. It became pretty clear to us that this
was going to be a genre piece, and we started playing around with the
concept of inevitability. It’s the sense that there is a sickness,
a sort of black spot on your x-ray that won’t go away!”

One
of Hollywood’s most exciting young actors, the gifted and
charismatic Dane DeHaan (“Kill Your Darlings”, “The Amazing
Spider-Man 2”, “Life”) was thrilled about taking on the role of
Lockhart and working with Verbinski. “To listen to Gore’s vision
and hear how passionate he was about it, and then to read the script
and understand what a challenging role it was—that was
irresistible,” says DeHaan. “My character goes through so much in
this film, it’s crazy. And this was an opportunity to work with a
great filmmaker.”

The
evocative world created by Gore and his gifted team, the treatments
that the patients undergo at Volmer’s spa, and the dramatic tension
throughout the film, combine to create a gripping and terrifying
cinematic experience. Like the best films in the genre, “A Cure for
Wellness” leaves the audience unsettled and unnerved, questioning
the darker side of human nature. It’s the kind of unease that
lingers long after the closing credits have rolled. “It’s like
people telling ghost stories around a campfire,” says Verbinski,
explaining why moviegoers enjoy watching an engrossing psychological
thriller.

“It’s
almost like a huge roller coaster, but the film is also asking a lot
of important questions,” comments DeHaan. “At times, you are
really feeling terrified. But if you are in a communal setting like a
theater, you know you are safe and you know that what is happening on
screen is completely removed from reality.”

“A
Cure For Wellness” opens February 15 from 20th Century
Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros. Rated R-16 by
the local censors board (MTRCB).